


Little Shop of Wonders

by SSAlias



Series: Jayroy Week 2019 [1]
Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: JayRoy Week 2019, M/M, Vampire Jason Todd, i rest my case, loose steampunk au, roy owns a cool ass shop that i want to be real, so hear me out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21559714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSAlias/pseuds/SSAlias
Summary: Jason had heard about this guy, Arsenal, who apparently could help alleviate the stress of Jason's curse. Turns out he could do even more than that.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Jayroy Week 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1553746
Comments: 4
Kudos: 113





	Little Shop of Wonders

**Author's Note:**

> So, the prompt was sci-fi/fantasy, right? Obviously, that means a loosely based vampire/steampunk au. Also, this writes less as an actual story and more like a prelude because me writing short fanfics is crazy wack.

Jason wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked into the seemingly tiny building with a buzzing neon sign that read “Open.” The outside wasn’t much to look at- perfectly discreet. Which was odd for the kind of business that the owner supposedly dealt in. Arsenal, the shopkeep, was told to be an open and welcoming kind of guy. Looking at the outside of the shop, Jason doubted that statement. Even though rumored to be friendly, the shop owner wasn’t exactly the textbook definition of pure. In the underground world of nightly creatures and fantastical beings, Arsenal was the go to for any otherworldly needs. It may have been illegal, but being on the wrong side of the law himself, Jason wasn’t going to judge.

Still, there was a tingling in his gut. Sure, he’d always been a little on the shy side, especially when it came to receiving help from other people, but he had needs to be filled, so he pushed open the front door and walked inside. Above him, a small bell chimed and, he snapped his head up to glare at the offending noise. Ever since he died and was brought back, he’d been twice as paranoid as before the accident. It was rare for humans to be friendly to his type, so he kept it a secret. Yet, his paranoia seemed to always have a hold of him. Nowadays, getting any sort of attention made him hypersensitive to everything. He always felt like everyone could see that he was a monster, like he had his heart welded on his sleeve.

He treaded lightly as he walked through the entrance. To each side of him was an aisle lined with shelves upon shelves of artifacts and trinkets. In front of him was another aisle, very much in the same manner. He followed the central aisle, each step he took caused the light above him to turn on and as soon as he was out from under it it would turn off again. Whoever Arsenal was, he must’ve been good with wiring. 

Jason noticed the lack of price tags or labels on the shelved items, and he wondered how anyone was able to buy or browse in the store. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for the placement of objects either, or at least not that Jason could find. It seemed more like Arsenal just tossed things wherever there was room. The chaoticness of had an alluring sense though, almost like an abstract painting. It held a sense of bewilderment that Jason could have easily gotten lost in for hours.

He turned onto another aisle, already losing track of where he had and hadn’t been. The new aisle was lit up by a series of hanging light bulbs, and to his left, Jason saw a series of shelves placed in a circle with a chandelier hanging in the center. He walked into the circle of shelves and found that they were covered in books.

Surprise overtook his features when he realized what kind of variety was among the books. Anything from simple physics to grimoire was among the shelves. The only thing that all the books had in common was the fact that they were all science based (Jason had always considered magic and witchcraft a form of science in itself). Although he was more of a fan of poetry and fictitious stories, Jason could still appreciate the time and dedication it must have taken to collect such an array of literature.

Suddenly, the scent of blood rushed into Jason’s nose and he pinched it on instinct. He whipped his head around to find a man with honey-colored hair looking at him curiously behind a pair of red goggles. He moved the goggles to the top of his head, pushing his long hair back and making it stick up. 

“Need any help?” the man asked, leaning against one of the shelves. He crossed his arms and it was then that Jason noticed the steel arm attached to his shoulder. Jason didn’t mean to stare, but there were a few copper wires and gears visible on it, causing Jason to wonder if it was used for weaponry because _damn_ it looked powerful. 

Although intrigued by the wonderland-esque store and fascinating machinery, that wasn’t what Jason was looking for.

“Arsenal?”

“That’d be me!” the man- _Arsenal_ said with a cheery grin. “Local fix-it man and odd object provider. How can I be of service?” he asked, removing himself from the shelf and walking closer. “Are you looking for a book of some kind?”

Jason shook his head, “I need an...artifact, I suppose. I got a little lost getting to the front desk though.” 

Arsenal chuckled, “Happens to the best of us. C’mon, I’ll show you the way,” he told Jason before disappearing out of the bookshelf room. Jason quickly followed, removing his hand from his nose now that he was used to the smell of the other man’s blood. “What kind of artifact are you looking for?”

“A hunger inhibitor,”

“Ah. You’re a vampire then,”

If Jason still had blood running through his veins, he figured it would have frozen at those words. He should have figured that Arsenal would find out what he was, the man was known to work with other creatures after all, but maybe Jason was still in denial about his state, maybe he wasn’t ready to admit to the abomination he had become. He felt his stomach twisting in knots.

Seeming to sense Jason’s panic, Arsenal stopped and turned to him, “Are you alright?”

Jason nodded curtly.

“Bullshit,” Arsenal said, “Look, I don’t care what you are, man. Yesterday, I had to help an alien princess find something to help her blend in with people, and the day before that, a man as quick as lightning damn near knocked everything off my shelves trying to find his way around this place. I deal with all sorts of persons, chaotic ones at that, vampire is probably the tamest thing I’ve seen this month.”

Jason relaxed a little at that. It was nice to know he wasn’t the only freak out there, and as far as he knew, Arsenal was the kind of guy that didn’t rat out others. “Right,” he said. “Right. Yeah. I’m a vampire,” saying it felt odd on his tongue, but Jason continued anyways, “I don’t want to drink from anyone thought, not even animals if I can help it. I don’t...I don’t even want to be _this,_ so stopping my hunger is the closest I can get to the old me.”

Arsenal hummed in acknowledgment and began walking again. “Well, you seem to have a pretty good sense of control going by how you plugged your nose as soon as you caught scent of me. If it weren’t for you mentioning hunger, I probably wouldn’t have figured out what you are so quickly.” 

They rounded a corner, the lights above them brighter than the others and Jason watched as the tint of Arsenal’s hair got warmer. Jason could see the features on Arsenal’s metal arm more clearly now. There were some sigils carved into it and there were patches where the metal looked more silver than steel. Jason now had no doubt that it was used for protection. 

“Your arm is cool,” Jason blurted out. Arsenal glanced over his shoulder to grin at Jason.

“Thanks. Your fangs are pretty cool too.” Not realizing they had begun showing, Jason clamped his hand over his mouth and tried to will them away. Arsenal shook his head a little and walked over to a counter with a large sign hanging above it that read “Roy’s Wears.”

Arsenal walked behind the desk and pulled a level. Suddenly, the line of shelves behind the desk started rotating and stopped on a row of necklaces. “These are my safe for vamps charms. Y’know, the ones not blessed or made of silver or whatever.” He grabbed a necklace with a bright red stone hung by some sort of black string, and Jason eyed it curiously. “This one is a special tribal one. It’s made to fend off internal demons; I actually used it for a while.”

“What for?” Jason asked, uncovering his mouth since he started feeling a little more comfortable around Arsenal. Or “Roy,” he assumed.

“I had a pretty gnarly addiction a while back,” Roy tried to laugh it off, but the sound came out hollow and haunting. He ran his thumb over the red stone in the center of the pendant, “I’m not useful when I’m high off my mind. One of my late fathers gave this to me when he caught word of what was happening. Fear of disappointment is a good motivator, and I think this thing was able to use that to help me quit. I swear, I could hear his voice every time I had a craving. He’d always tell me, _Roy don’t you dare touch that needle, Shiye', you’re stronger than that._ ”

Jason considered apologizing, but he didn’t know what exactly he would be apologizing for, so after a moment of awkward silence, he asked, “So, it uses person fears as motivators?”

“Not exactly,” Roy looked away from the necklace to meet Jason’s eyes again. It was then that Jason noticed the fern green color of Roy’s eyes. It was calming, much more normal compared to Jason’s teal eyes that seemed to always hold a sickly green glow now. “But I’m not sure. I think it digs into one’s self-conscience and boosts the determination within, using whatever it can to do that. Or it’s a placebo and resistance to our sins can be found in ourselves at all times. The great thing about charms is that they are what you believe. The whole world works like that really.”

“No offense, but I’m not so sure that’s true,” Jason admitted, now leaning against the desk with his arms folded.

“Sure it does. Take your vampirism for example. You probably think it’s a curse, right? You can look at it however you want, but I see it as a testament to your perseverance. A lot of people don’t survive the transformation, yet here you are. And instead of succumbing to your cravings, you’re trying to stop them. Kinda like what I did, you see?” Roy explained. “Plus I’m sure there’s plenty of people who are into...that kind of thing.”

Confusion settled across Jason’s features. “What?”

“Vampire kinks,”

Eyes going wide, Jason asked again, “ _What?!_ ”

“Hey, don’t yell at me! I’m just telling it how it is!” Roy defended with a red face. “People are into all kinda things! Vampire kink is probably one of the tamer ones actually.”

“How in the hell do you even know people have those?” Jason asked, nearly ready to combust. His shock at finding out people fetishize what happened to him caused some of his concentration to slip and he had to level his breathing before the smell of Roy’s blood made him lash out.

“Biting and increased stamina. Sounds like a good time to me.” Roy said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Jason supposed if one were to look at it like that, then sure, maybe being a vampire wasn’t horrible. Jason believed the world was made of shades of gray, but he never stopped to consider that that could apply to things other than punishment and retribution. If that was the case, that would mean most of what Roy was saying was because that’s how he perceived things. _Interesting_. Jason thought, amused.

Jason huffed out a laugh. “It’s starting to sound like you’re the one with a kink,”

“Guilty as charged,” Roy winked and Jason nearly died again then and there. “Speaking of charge, let’s get to talking about the price on this baby. I don’t tag half the junk in here since people have different circumstances, so most things are negotiable.” He explained and took a seat.

“I can pay as much as you want. More than you want- you said it was a gift from your dad?” Jason reaffirmed.

“Yeah, but that’s kinda why I was going to give you a discount. He’d want it to be used for a worthy cause, and I’ve already had my turn with it.” 

“You don’t have to-”

“I insist. Think about it this way. You don’t want to go around draining people, and I don’t want you to do that either. Me helping you is also helping me. Get it?” explained Roy. “You just gotta promise to pass it on when you’re done with it, or you can bring it back here and I’ll make sure it serves its purpose. Either way, just pass on the kindness.” 

Nodding, Jason agreed to the terms, “Consider it done,” 

“Atta boy. Alright, you said you could pay anything, yeah? So, I’m assuming you’re fairly loaded. Let me guess,” Roy said, placing a finger to his temple and using his metal hand to point at Jason, “Your family is one of those old gothic-style vampire dens that still follow the whole _we only go out at night_ gimmicks?”

“Uh,” Jason started, “Yeah, that’s pretty close. How did you know?” 

Roy grinned and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head, “I’m smarter than I look. Let’s go with two grand for now, and if you ever feel generous, I accept donations but not until at least a week after purchase.” 

"Then expect me back in a week," Jason said, pulling out a wad of cash from on of his coat pockets. He placed two-thousand on the counter and slid it to Roy, who placed it in the lockbox on the counter.

Roy held out the charm, "I look forward to seeing you again, Jason." 

Jason grinned, slipping the twine around his neck and tucking the charm in his jacket, "Until then." 

* * *

Jason tried very hard to return to Roy’s shop the following week, but of course, things didn’t go as planned. 

Originally, his intent was to show up at night, much like he had before, and give the other man five times as much as the price of the repression charm, however, instead of doing that, Jason was scrambling inside the building, out of breath, and pressing his back against the door in a panic. 

Rampant steps sounded through the shop and around the corner came Roy with his prosthetic arm raised high, his palm outstretched and a few gears on the arm turning. When Roy saw it was Jason, he lowered the arm and it let out a puff of steam. “Jason? What the hell is going on?” 

“Uh. Hi! Nice evening, right?” 

“I wouldn’t know. I was sleeping.” Roy crossed his arms, “I don’t like threatening customers, especially seemingly nice, cute ones, but if you don’t tell me why you’re here, I’ll have you pulverized into two seconds flat.”

Sighing, Jason stepped away from the door. He debated for a moment what he should do. Honesty is usually the best option, or at least that’s what people always told Jason, but from his experience, people really didn’t like the truth. Maybe Roy was different, he seemed different, and Jason knew for a fact that Roy valued both sides of a story. Or, he assumed as much from their previous encounter. He decided to bite the bullet. “I killed someone,”

In an instant, Jason’s back was against the door again and a cold metallic hand was pressed harshly against his cheek. He tried to turn his head to look at Roy, but the other man only pushed against him firmer. “Why?” Roy asked simply.

Jason frowned and felt a crease form in his brow, “He deserved it. He was killing people.”

“Then what makes you different than him? Why not go to the law?” Was the predictable response Jason received. Maybe Roy wasn’t different after all.

“Because,” Jason snapped, “Because he was killing people like me, the people you try to protect. That lowlife scum wasn’t killing humans _he was massacring innocents._ ” Grinding his teeth, Jason used his cursed strength and pushed against Roy’s hand to look him in the eye, unwillingly baring his fangs in the process. “Give it a week and that piece of filth would have been back on the street. He was a good for nothing, blood-spewing, cancer of a person. I looked into your business, _Arsenal_ , before I even came here. You aren’t exactly selling to the kinds of people the law cares about- in fact, I’d say selling to people like me would make you a target-”

“You better shut the-”

“Who’s to say he wouldn’t have sent his goons after you, huh? Who’s to say they wouldn’t have tortured your kid?” Jason finished.

Roy stepped away, silent, and Jason felt his breath hitch with every noise that Roy’s damned prosthetic made. “How do you know about that?”

“Like I said,” Jason spoke evenly to hide the disappointment and anger he was feeling, “I did my research. I couldn’t find a name, but I know you have a kid who’s half werecat. I’m a firm believer that everyone is born innocent and I have no reason to believe that you and your family are anything but. Not everyone would agree with that sentiment. Some would even call your child an abomination, just like the man I removed from this world would have.”

Roy stared at Jason, and Jason hated the fact that he didn’t know what the other man was thinking. Jason wanted- no, _needed_ to know what Roy was thinking. He’d been rejected too many times because of what he does, being labeled a murder and a mercenary when he truly believed he was helping the world. Not to mention the fact that Jason never asked for money and never killed someone who didn’t deserve it. 

He didn’t even like it. He hated the smell of blood and hated hearing people scream. Yet, he’d rather the blood of the corrupt fill the streets than the lives of the good be tarnished by hate and crime. He didn’t want another _him_ happening. He would never wish that upon a person.

Finally, Roy spoke up and Jason watched him cautiously, ready to be told to go fuck off and die or something, “You need a place to hide?” Roy asked instead.

Jason felt relief like no other wash over him, and his voice may have cracked a little when he whisper out a, “Yeah,” 

Roy waved his hand and began walking away. Jason took it as a sign to follow. He was led to the front desk and then through a door a few feet from it, guarded with a keypad that Roy didn’t allow Jason to see the pin for. Behind the door was a staircase that lead downwards into a dark nothingness. There was a whirring sound, and then a light came from Roy’s arm to light their way.

Roy glanced over his shoulder to look at Jason, “Remember, two seconds flat.”

Jason nodded in silence and continued following the other man. At the bottom of the staircase, there was another door with a keypad. Again, Jason wasn’t allowed to see the pin, but he couldn’t really complain. He was getting free shelter after all. 

Roy opened the door, and Jason was greeted with...a home. It wasn’t odd that Roy would live at his store, a lot of people did similar things, Jason was just a little surprised at how large it seemed. It was like the size of a warehouse. Jason wondered, with how Roy seemed to be kind with his prices, how in the world he could afford something like this. His best guess was that a lot of people were like Jason himself and donated money.

While on that topic, “Hey,” Jason started, pulling what he had on him out of his pocket, “It’s not all I promise, but maybe it’s enough to pay for tonight.” 

Roy looked at him, then snatched the cash out of Jason’s hand. “Normally, I’d deny taking money at a time like this, but…” he trailed off with a light laugh, “I’m sure you can figure out why I’m taking it.” 

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Roy waved him off. He walked over to a rather large door and it slid open for him. Beyond Roy, Jason could see a circular table with a gigantic monitor behind it. Roy stopped in front of the table and turned around to face Jason. “You weren’t the only one that did your research, Jason Todd.” Jason froze, and Roy began laughing. “Don’t look so scared. After you showed up the first time, I pulled a few strings. As it turns out, I’m pretty buddy-buddy with one of your brothers.”

Jason hesitated for a moment, “...Dick?”

“Yep. You know, you’re smarter than you look, Jay. We got that in common.”

Scowling, Jason said, “Well you-” then cut himself off. He shouldn't be offending someone giving him shelter. Not unless he wants to lose it.

Roy grinned, “No, please. Speak your mind. I’d hate to silence that pretty mouth of yours.”

Flushing, Jason stuttered out, “You- My- _What?!_ ”

Roy cackled and turned to the monitor again, “All you Wayne kids are so easy to embarrass.” As Roy messed with a box on the table in front of the monitor, Jason realized it was actually a projection. The screen flickered to show a giant “A” with an arrow through it, which Jason assumed stood for Arsenal. “Now, I’ll have to do a real interview and ask around since I hardly know you personally, but seeing as you don’t want to hurt people, and you clearly know how to get away with illegal things, I think you could be valuable.”

“Valuable to what?”

Roy pressed a button on the control panel for the projector and the screen changed to show various faces of people Jason didn’t recognize, except for a few of his family members. The pictures were in various rows with titles above them. He saw a grayscale version of Dick’s picture next to Roy’s, followed by others that Jason didn’t know. Above them read “Titans” with a line through it. Not too far down from that were their pictures again, but they looked a little more recent and read “Outsiders.”

“To a team. I’ve been a part of a lot of them. All failures, but I think that’s because they failed to utilize each member correctly. Not to be biased,” Roy huffed, “But I’ve been severely underestimated in my career. Most of the stuff you see here, I’ve built. I put a lot of time and thought into what would make a good team, a team that can make a real difference in solving problems rather than creating more. I don’t want to talk bad about past friends, but not all of them are thinkers. Hell, I’d bet money that they believe the same about me.”

“Roy?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re rambling,” Jason grinned. 

“I’m monologuing,” Roy corrected, causing Jason to huff a laugh. “Alright, straight to the point. Do you want to be partners? Before you say-”

“Sure,” Jason interrupted. 

Roy looked at him in surprise, “Wait, really?”

Shrugging, Jason explained, “I don’t have much else to do other than hide from the police. And you’re kinda funny. But only a little.”

Roy beamed at him and Jason wondered what he had gotten himself into. “Jay, you won’t regret this,”

And Jason believed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Since I'm most certainly still working on Familiar, I'll only be uploading three stories this week, but December is almost here and with the end of the year comes a turning point for Familiar! I hope you're all as excited as I am- and have a good week!


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